Legal Unions May Bolster Mental Health.

HealthDay (12/14, Gray) reports, “As the US Supreme Court prepares to enter the debate about gay marriage, a new study” published online Dec. 13 in the American Journal of Public Health “suggests that being in a legally recognized relationship of any kind may reduce feelings of nervousness, hopelessness and depression.” After analyzing data on some 47,000 adults, “researchers found that psychological distress was lower among people in a legally recognized relationship, whether gay or straight. Those in same-sex relationships that were legally recognized — either as marriage or as a registered domestic partnership — also revealed less psychological distress.”